Women in the Spotlight

Clara Louise Kellogg, Emma Abbott, Minnie Hauk, and Emma Thursby were successful American sopranos in post-Civil War New York City. The pursuit of such a career was not easy for a woman in Victorian America. The 19th-century New York woman was expected to focus on husband, children, and domestic duties and shun attention in public. Any woman who wished to work outside the home and venture forth independently was confronted by society's restrictive mores. Kellogg, Abbott, Hauk, and Thursby had their work cut out for them. Yet each, in her own way, triumphed over society's strictures and won fame, fortune, and critical acceptance. These women were groundbreakers in Victorian America; they demonstrated that a woman could achieve remarkable success by employing her talent outside of the home. Further, she could retain society's approbation while doing so. For each of the sopranos in this study the road to success was different. Common to all was a need to craftily juggle repertoire choices, career moves, and men. And common to all was the New York press's assessment of their every move.